"So..." Joy trailed off after they were done explaining, blinking owlishly at Kira and KT. "Wow. Okay... Wow. This is..." She cleared her throat. "This is, um, really bad, isn't it?"

"Yeah," KT agreed gravely. "Definitely not great."

"So Patricia and Mara are..."

"Not themselves, yes," Kira said. "And Victor, and... my dad."

"And they need one more? Just one more?"

KT nodded, placing a subtle hand on Kira's thigh and squeezing it in an attempt at comfort. "Which is why they kidnapped Eddie and Kira last night. Eddie's still there, but Fabian and Alfie are going to break him out."

"Oh my god," Joy breathed, scratching at her arms vigorously. "Oh my god..."

Kira squinted at her, the itching only slightly off-putting. "Joy, barring the fact that nothing about the situation is okay, are you okay?"

"What? Yeah. I mean, no, I'm miserable, because you've just told me the world may be ending in an hour, two of my best friends are being tortured, my heart is shattered, and I've lost a hedgehog," she rattled off, still scratching.

"Right, but I think she meant the itching," said KT slowly, gesturing at her up and down.

"Oh, that. I dunno, I've just been itchy since I woke up this morning," she said dismissively. "It's fine, there's clearly bigger things to worry about. What can I do to help? Name it."

"I thought you wanted out of Sibuna," Kira remarked.

"I do," she replied, "but this isn't really just about Sibuna anymore, is it?"

"Guess not," KT mused. "Joy, the best thing you can do for yourself right now is to go to school and make sure you keep a low profile. The last thing you need right now is to let Denby, Sweetie, or Victor know that you know something's wrong."

"Try to clue Jerome in if you can," added Kira pragmatically. "Willow, too. I bet she'd believe it no questions asked."

"Really? That's it? Just sit and wait for the other shoe to drop?" Joy asked, dumbfounded. "Where's the convoluted plan to save the day?"

"We don't have one," Fabian explained as he and Eddie ran up the attic steps and entered the room, the latter clutching an orange wooden box under one arm.

Immediately, tears sprung to Kira's eyes. "Oh my god, Eddie," she hiccuped, launching herself at him, concussion be damned. He was solid and real, and here was her stupid idiot of a brother who'd nearly killed himself to get her out of a situation she'd put herself in. Was this what it felt like to be on the other side of the relationship. Here Eddie was, cleaning up her mess. She squeezed him tighter around his middle.

"It's okay, Nug," he whispered into her hair, hugging his sister with the one arm not holding the box. "I'm okay."

"You're such a dick," she exclaimed, smacking him as she pulled away. "You could have died!"

"I didn't, though," he joked weakly, putting the box down on KT's desk.

"Where's Alfie?" asked KT, her tone laced with withering hope.

Fabian pursed his lips into a thin line. "He found the artifact," he said by way of an answer. "We barely got away."

"Oh, god," Joy rasped. "You left Alfie?"

"How much does she know?" Fabian demanded anxiously.

"She's not one of them," Eddie assured them at the same time KT snapped: "She knows enough to know that leaving Alfie behind was a fucking horrible thing to do! How could you? You basically just traded him for Eddie!"

"Look, we didn't want to, okay?" Fabian fired back, hackles raised in defense, but his face was riddled with guilt. "But Alfie figured out his end of the nursery rhyme; insisted he get his artifact."

"He wouldn't leave without it, and then Frobisher and Denby—" Eddie began.

"Stop," Kira said, screwing her eyes shut. Oh, Alfie... "I don't want to think about it. I can fill in the pieces myself."

"I-It's okay though! They can't even do anything to him until noon, and what sin is Alfie gonna commit anyway? Right?" Eddie exclaimed nervously. "It's Alfie!"

"They'll probably threaten Willow!" KT exclaimed, the anger in her voice rising. Kira could imagine KT of all people was not comfortable with the idea of leaving anyone behind. "Don't be dumb, Eddie, if they threatened Patricia, do you think you'd keep your cool?"

"Well, they've already got her, KT!" Eddie parried sharply, his voice breaking the only sign of his true feelings on the matter. "So I don't really know."

"Guys, focus," Fabian ordered, derailing the argument before it could begin. "Alfie made his choice, and we won't let him down. So we need to hide this artifact, and find that last one now." He cut a pointed look at Joy. "I think you should go, Joy. Lay low."

"What? You want me to go right now? " she squeaked, outraged as she scratched at her collar. "After you've just dropped this bomb on me, you want me to what? Go back to class? Are you out of your mind?"

"Look, Fabian's right," Kira sighed. "None of us are safe anywhere, but definitely not here. Go back to class, act like everything's normal, and the minute you sense danger, get the hell out of there. Bring as many people with you as you can."

"We'll be in touch, okay?" Fabian said, putting a hand pin his old friend's shoulder and squeezing it; Kira thought she could see it trembling. "I promise."

She searched his face, then looked around at the other Sibunas. "This is mad," she whispered, more to herself than to them, and shook her head; very purposefully, she raised a hand to her eye. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but... Sibuna."

"Sibuna," they echoed sporadically. It felt a little like goodbye. "See you on the other side, Joy," bid Eddie.

Kira peered down at KT's watch and swallowed back vomit: 12:01 PM. Alfie, please be okay, she prayed. God— gods— please be okay. One thing was abundantly clear: if there was another side, they'd certainly crossed it now.

—

After sending a reluctant Joy on her way with the promise of information, Eddie couldn't help but be slightly relieved that at least they had someone at the school they could rely on to relay word about the goings on to. If things went south, Joy might be able to get Jerome or Willow out of there before shit hit the fan. As it currently stood, though, things were looking grim. He was doing his very best ti be optimistic despite incredibly low morale— maybe it was a little delusional of him, but he had to believe they could still win.

"'When Ammut walks the Earth, the Endless Storm begins,'" Eddie recited from memory when Kira voiced her admittedly valid doomsday attitude for the hundredth time in fifteen minutes. He jerked a finger at the attic window, where light still poured through the glass in spite of everything. "It's still sunny outside guys! Even if they did manage to capture Alfie—"

Fabian made what sounded like an involuntary choking noise, and he cleared his throat. Eddie felt for him, truly. It was an impossible situation, the one they'd been in at the Gatehouse, but leaving Alfie behind was something that would haunt Eddie till the day he died... even if that day happened to be relatively soon. He was sure Fabian felt the same.

"We could have fought back," he lamented quietly. "I was so focused on that stupid artifact, I didn't—"

"There's a million different things we could have done," Eddie interjected, reaching across their sitting circle and putting a hand on Fabian's ankle. "But we didn't. And we can't waste time feeling bad about it anymore. This isn't over yet, okay? We've got to see this through."

"We're not too late," agreed KT, "but if we don't find the summer house before they do, we will be. And we don't even know where it is! There's a billion buildings on campus that could be it! And maybe some were already torn down! Or maybe they aren't even on the estate!" She dragged her hands down her face and began to fan herself. "We're looking for a summer house in a building-stack!"

"One of my books might have something in it," Fabian said, doing a very good job of controlling his breathing. "O-Or one of Frobisher's diaries down in the antechamber."

"Maybe the book KT and I found at your uncle's shop?" Kira suggested. "You have that, yeah?"

"Yes."

"Well," she said, struggling to her feet, "What are we waiting for? Let's go!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Eddie said, scrambling after her. "You're not going anywhere with a literal lump on your head."

"I'll just take more painkillers, it's fine," his sister dismissed stubbornly.

"No, Eddie's right! You're gonna hurt yourself," KT said, standing as well. "You should stay here."

"If I stay here, I'm a sitting duck," she replied cynically. "We don't have time for this, I'll recover when this is all over... one way or another. I'm not arguing. Pass me the pill bottle, and let's find the fucking summer house."

Eddie started to argue again, because there was no way he was letting his vulnerable sister out into the world with blunt force trauma to the head, but Fabian shushed him. "She's right, it's not safe here anymore, especially not in the attic. There's no way out if things get bad."

"Um, I made it out the window," remarked KT.

"And you're insane," Fabian retorted, "and also not concussed."

"We're wasting time," Kira said brusquely. "Let's just go check out those books."

KT reluctantly handed over the pill bottle, and Kira snatched it up, leading the way down the stairs; Eddie didn't miss the way she was swaying, though. This was going to end poorly.

They made it onto the girls' floor and froze at the sound of familiar voices coming from the trio bedroom. "Patricia," Eddie whispered at the same time his sister hissed, "Mara!" The four of them pressed flush against the wall by the door, listening to the exchange happening inside:

"Did you know everyone in this place has fleas?" Patricia remarked, fluffing her hair by her vanity in a very Amber-like motion.

"From that pathetic little creature Willow insisted on feeding?" Mara laughed cooly, flipping through an old journal that probably belonged to Frobisher, knowing their luck. "I don't feel anything, but I believe it."

"I don't feel anything either," whispered KT, nervously scratching at her arm as though the mere suggestion of fleas had infected her. "But Joy was itching like crazy!"

"Who gives a shit about fleas?" Eddie whispered harshly.

"Both of you, shut up!" Fabian shushed them.

"Because even the insects can sense what we are now," Patricia continued almost smugly, and Eddie's chest tightened. Gods, this was torture. "They're as afraid of Ammut as everyone else."

Mara chuckled. "A puny flea versus the Great One? No wonder they're scared. Well, hopefully the house won't be infected long." She cut a snide grin at her roommate. "We both know a wonderful exterminator."

Eddie watched his sister's jaw twitch in outrage, and knew his was just as tense. The way they were talking, joking... it was uncanny. It was like watching a pantomime of real people, and now that he knew what he was looking at, he only felt more red-hot shame at not having noticed. He was a horrible person.

"I think I've got it!" Mara cheered suddenly. "No thanks to you."

"Oh, shut up," griped Patricia, turning in her chair. "Go on, then."

"'The log party took place in the Nefertiti Garden, and the members of the Archaeological Society were thrilled by the new summer house,'" Mara read aloud. "'Standing at the center on a clear day, you can see the weather vanes of both the main house and the Gatehouse.'"

Patricia rolled her eyes. "What a bore!" she complained, and Eddie begrudgingly had to agree with her. "Robert's way more interesting now that he serves the Devourer."

"To see the weather vanes," Mara said, ignoring her, "you'd have to be on the other side of the woods. And I know where that is."

"Really?" Patricia asked with a grin, standing up abruptly. "Let's go!"

The Sibunas panicked a bit, retreating back the way they'd come, only managing to hide at the base of the attic stairs at the last possible moment before the two Sinners rushed down the hall.

"The other side of the woods?" Eddie groaned once they were gone. "That could be anywhere!"

"Not anywhere," Kira murmured, brow furrowed. At first, Eddie thought she was having a headache or was nauseous, but then he realized she was thinking. "Weather vanes..."

"We don't have time to guess, we need to check a map!" Fabian insisted, pushing past them to start back toward the bottom floor; Kira caught him by the arm.

"No, no! We don't need a map, because I know where we need to go!" Kira looked at Eddie, and for the first time in a while, she looked excited, even hopeful. "That's where Greg took me on our first date!"

"Greg Harrison?" Eddie asked dumbly.

"Date?" KT added, her eyes comically wide.

"Last year! On our date-walk!" she exclaimed, laughing. "He took me to an old abandoned building covered in weeds where athletes and stoners go to smoke! I remember seeing weather vanes!"

"Are you sure?" Fabian asked.

"Positive!" Kira replied, opening up the bottle of painkillers and dry swallowing two before starting toward the stairs. "Follow me! On y va! If we go the back way, we might beat them there."

Eddie exchanged helpless looks with the others, then, without much choice but to trust her, followed Kira toward their summer house.

—

Despite their late start, they made it to an old abandoned building about a fifteen minute walk from from the house— it would have been at least eight if they'd been able to run, but given that Kira was the one who knew the way, they had to follow her snail's pace. At least it didn't seem like anyone was around, which put Eddie on edge. There was no way in hell they'd beat Mara and Patricia here, so either they evaporated on the way over or the club was at the wrong place.

Fabian seemed to think so, too. "Kira, are you sure?" he asked again, eyeing the mossy, dilapidated stone structure dubiously. "You came here once over a year ago."

"Yes, I'm sure!" she answered in that exasperated tone of hers. Then, she pointed just above the tree line. "Look!"

Eddie and the others craned their necks, squinting against the sunlight— and gods, were those clouds rolling in?— and sure enough there were two weathervanes just visible over the tree growth. "Huh," KT mused, wrapping an arm around her girlfriend's shoulders and squeezing affectionately. "Well done, Kira."

"Okay, I noticed that too," Fabian grumbled under his breath. Louder, he said, "Look, we've got to look through the weeds. Right? That's what Patricia's rhyme was?"

"'Summer house beneath the weeds,'" Eddie confirmed. "At least, that's what Piper remembers."

"Then, let's find that artifact!" KT exclaimed, clapping her hands together and darting up the steps to the walkway that surrounded the building. Sure enough, there were clinging vines and ivy wrapped around just about every surface, giving the place an eerie, reclaimed, yet beautiful appearance.

"It might be tucked away in some crevice!" Eddie deduced, waving a hand around the place, before diving into the foliage. "Leave no stone unturned!"

The Sibunas spread out, digging through the grim and leaves, but no one seemed to come up with anything particularly artifact-y. Eddie thought for a moment he'd uncovered something, and called his friends over excitedly. "Look! This rock! It's got markings on it; it could be hieroglyphics!"

Fabian gave it a once over and fixed him with a deadpan glare. "That's pigeon poop," he drawled.

"Oh..." said Eddie, feeling stupid.

"I think it's just a rock, if that makes you feel better?" Kira said weakly.

"A little," he admitted, pocketing it just in case.

"Okay, but finding this thing is like finding a needle in a haystack," KT griped, dusting her hand off. "Like, literally where are supposed to— Wait, look!" She pointed up to where the shifting sunlight cast a pattern on the wall through one of the stained glass windows high above their heads. It was of a crook and what looked like a sunset twisted into the form of a gate. "That could be a clue!"

Eddie's eyes followed the light up to the actual window, under which the bust of a sphinx head stood, weathered by dirt and spiderwebs. "Maybe the artifacts under this!" he gasped, attempting to move it. It barely budged. "Fabian, dude, help me out!"

Fabian grunted sharply through his nose as the two boys shoved at the stone bust, but the pedestal it was on simply wasn't going anywhere. Strangely enough, though, the bust wasn't moving either.

"It's no good," KT sighed, already defeated. "What if they did get here fore us and already found it?"

"Oh, god..." Kira breathed, leaning against the wall and cradling her face in her hands. "No, it's gotta be here somewhere."

Eddie knelt on the ground by the pedestal, trying to move it from the bottom. "C'mon, any ideas, stone face?" he asked the statue, peering up into its face. Something was off about it, though, something it took him a moment to place. "Why are his eyes shut?"

"Shut?" parroted Fabian, crouching down to get a better look. "Its eyes are a separate carving!" he gasped after a moment, pointing. "See? I bet if you..." He reached out with two fingers and pressed down on the eyes, which sunk deep into the statue's skull. Crimson light erupted from the sockets, and Eddie very carefully lifted the bust. It swung back as though on hinges, and revealed a hidden compartment in which a large red ruby topper sat, cushioned by nearly 80 years worth of dust and cobwebs.

"Now, that looks like an artifact!" he laughed triumphantly, holding it up to the light; something dark seemed to swirl in its depths. "It's like there's something moving in here," he breathed.

"It's probably just refraction or something," Fabian dismissed, resealing the statue's head.

"Really? Let me see," Kira insisted, squinting into gem that Eddie obligingly held up for his twin to take a look at. "Oh, wow... You guys, I can't believe Greg Harrison's nicotine addiction saved the day!"

"Come on," KT urged with a giddy laugh, already jogging back the way they came into the clearing. "We don't have much time left!"

"Yeah, coming!" Kira called after her, straightening up with a grimace.

"Your head?" Fabian asked.

Eddie pocketed the artifact and stood back up, putting both hands on his sister's shoulders. "Your pupils are like black holes," he noted. "That's a symptom of brain damage, right?"

She shrugged him off. "Jesus, I'm fine," she said. "KT's right, we've gotta—"

Whatever she was going to say was cut off by a shrill, familiar scream that made all three of them leap out of their skin. "KT!" Fabian gasped, already running in the direction she'd gone in. Eddie and Kira stared at each other in frightened dread for a split second before tearing off after him.

KT writhed helplessly in the middle of the clearing, her arms twisted viciously behind her back by a very smug-looking Patricia. "Guys!" she squeaked. "I saw them watching us!"

"Too little, too late," Mara jeered from Patricia's other side, and beside Eddie, Kira stiffened at the phrasing. "We thought we'd let you lot find it for us."

Eddie's feet were rooted to the ground, at a complete loss for what to do or say. The logical thing to do was make a break for it. They had the artifact, they had a chance to end this... but Eddie had already left someone behind for an object that day— had already left so many people behind— and he wasn't ever going to do that again.

"Come on," Patricia crooned, shaking KT like a rag doll. "Let's make a little trade, Eddie. After all, it's my artifact."

"Fuck you!" Kira spat, making a move forward, but Fabian caught her by the waist and hauled her back. "Fabian!"

"Do not do something you'll regret," he hissed.

"Listen to Stutter Rutter, roomie," mocked Mara, reaching over and tugging hard on one of KT's curls. "Unless you want KT to match with you." She tapped her under-eye in the same place Kira's bruise had already darkened into a plum-colored stain across her cheek.

"Guys, go," KT ordered, putting on a brave face that Eddie could see right through.

"No," he said, surprising himself with the strength behind the word.

"Don't do something you'll regret," she exclaimed, mirroring Fabian's logic. "I'm not worth that artifact! I'll be fine— go!"

"No!" Eddie repeated. This was the love of his sister's life, and she would never forgive him for leaving her behind now. But also, this was his friend, someone he'd already let down far too much lately.

"Then make your play, Osirian," Patricia fired back.

"We can stand here all day long," laughed Mara, giggling with Patricia like they were watching a rom-com instead of engaging in a hostage situation. "Well, at least until the storm clouds roll in."

"Guys, please," KT begged, voice cracking. "Run!"

"Eddie..." Fabian said through gritted teeth, still holding onto Kira for dear life, lest she try to take on two of the fittest people on campus by herself.

"I'm not taking orders from these fakes!" he barked, holding onto the artifact in his pocket until the edges bit into his palms. "We're not leaving you."

"Oh, well, if that's how it's going to be," mused Patricia, cocking her head so she could look over KT's shoulder. "How about we mosey on down to the Gatehouse and get ready to meet the Devourer, then?" she suggested in an obnoxious imitation of KT's Philly accent.

"Great idea, Patricia!" chuckled Mara. "I wonder what she'll want to do when she gets here... oh, that's right!" She jerked her head sharply toward the three Sibunas on the stairs. "Devour something."

"If it wasn't clear, she means someone..." Patricia amended, her smirk deepening as KT's struggles renewed.

"Eddie, please," his sister pleaded, cheeks streaked with tears. "Do something!"

Easy for you to say! he thought frantically, his fingers brushing the small poop stone he'd pocketed earlier. An idea popped into his head— a last ditch, stupid, shot in the dark idea, but an idea nonetheless— and he wrapped his fist around the rock. "Fine, let's trade then," he said, lifting his hand and lobbing the rock in Patricia's direction, high into the air. "You want it? Go get it!"

Patricia shoved KT to the side, hands raised high to catch the decoy artifact as it sailed through space. Meanwhile, Eddie took the stairs two at a time and caught KT by the arm, using the momentum to hit the ground running with her in tow. Fabian and Kira were a only few paces behind them, hauling ass away from the scene of the crime before the Sinners could regroup.

As they tore away, Eddie expected shouts of anger, maybe thundering footsteps behind them in hot pursuit. Instead, Mara's chilling laugh carried toward them on the wind, sending a shiver up his spine. What kind of a reverse psychology tactic was that?! Whatever they're doing to throw you off doesn't matter, Osirian, he reminded himself as they fled. You've got the last piece of the puzzle. It's time to end this.